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Louisbourg |
Quebec City |
Fort Rodd |
Halifax Citadel |
Prince of Wales |
Fort MacLeod
Fort Steele |
Fort Henry |
Fort Anne
When the Hudson Bay company was formed in
1672 and began to trade for furs in North America it's
Royal charter stated that it was granted all of the land
with waters that ran into the Hudson Bay. The strategic
positioning of trading posts at the mouths of the main
rivers was the first step which the HBC took.
In 1717 James Knight established
the Churchill River post for the HBC on the west bank of
the Churchill River. This post was a log fort, In 1719
the post was given the new name of Prince of Wales Post.
In 1731 construction of the large stone fort began on
Eskimo Point and continued for hundreds of years but was
never truly finished. 42 gun emplacements were built and
a battery was built on the other side of the river at
Cape Merry in order to bombard any attackers from both
sides. Fort
Prince of Wales only saw battle once when in 1782 three
French warships appeared, during the American
Revolution, under the command of Jean Francois de La
Perouse, appeared and demanded that the fort surrender.
The HBC governor of the fort, the great explorer, Samuel
Hearne, understood that he would not be able to resist
with just 22 men and turned the fort over to the French.
The terms of the peace treaty returned
the fort to Britain but it's use as a strategic position
became less and less relevant as the years went by.
Today it is maintained
and operated by Parks Canada and offers many exhibits at
the fort and in Churchill which depict life under the
HBC and the fur trade.
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